Korgoth of Barbaria

Did You Know?

• Aaron Springer previously created another failed pilot for Cartoon Network Studios called Periwinkle Around the World.
• The pilot was included in the Adult Swim in a Box DVD set released by Warner Home Video in October 2009.

Production

The pilot was created by Aaron Springer, a storyboard artist and writer for shows like Dexter's Laboratory and SpongeBob SquarePants, with animation direction from Genndy Tartakovsky and production by Rough Draft Korea. Announced for spring 2007 at Comic-Con 2006, the only trace on Adult Swim's site by late 2007 was a graphic reading "You couldn't handle more than one anyway."

Airing

The pilot first aired on June 3, 2006, at 12:30 AM (EST) on Adult Swim. On June 18, Adult Swim announced it was picked up as a series due to high ratings. It was later canceled before production began because of high production costs. Adult Swim re-aired the pilot on October 31, 2008, as part of a Halloween Stunt night, and again on November 3, 2013, during Toonami. A November 2010 bumper listed its cancellation reason as "too expensive." The pilot aired once more on January 29, 2019.

Episode

The pilot follows Korgoth, voiced by Diedrich Bader, in a post-apocalyptic world where sorcery and technology coexist. Korgoth is infected with a deadly parasite by Gog-Ma-Gogg and forced to steal the Golden Goblin of the Fourth Age from the wizard Specules. He travels with Gog's henchmen to Specules' castle, killing several creatures along the way. Specules returns from vacation and uses magic to kill the henchmen, but Korgoth proves too strong. Specules accidentally kills Korgoth's companion, and Korgoth impales him with a candlestick holder. Specules magically transfers his head onto the dead girl's body and flies away. Korgoth delivers the goblin, receives an elixir that takes many seasons to work, and walks off pulling a cart of medicine bottles.